HURON — Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Minn., earned his second straight win on Shaw Trucking Challenge Series on Thursday in the Iverson’s Dakota Challenge at Dakota State Fair Speedway.
Shaw led 32 of the 40-lap feature event to collect the top prize of $5,000.
“The car has been pretty good, so I would have to say the motor and the car,” Shaw pointed to as the keys to being able to hold off a trio of local drivers for the top spot. “The driver is just along for the ride.”
Shaw, who had won five previous feature events at the Huron oval, started on the pole and was able to get past Cole Schill, who also started on the front row and grabbed the lead on the opening lap, using the low groove coming out of turn two as the pair started to reach lapped traffic. He promptly moved back to the top of the track and stayed there the remainder of the race.
Despite holding the top spot for the final 32 laps, Shaw had to fight off a handful of contenders en route to the victory.
After the race was slowed the first time due to a spin by track record holder David McDonald of Huron on the13th lap, Shaw was challenged by defending race winner Jason Krohn of Slayton, Minn. However, Krohn’s pursuit of the top spot was shortlived, as he suffered mechanical issues 10 laps later and was forced to retire from the race on lap 22.
Chad Becker of Aberdeen, who started on the outside of the fourth row in the 25-car field, worked his way up to third and moved into second behind Shaw with 18 laps remaining.
While Shaw widened his leading gap as the laps clicked away, Becker was left to contend with fellow Aberdeen driver and the all-time winningest driver at DSFS, Kent Arment.
Arment started 10th and moved to fourth behind Becker on the 19th lap. With Krohn’s departure he moved to third.
The second caution flag of the race flew on lap 30 as the F19 late model belonging to Marshall Fegers of Savage, Minn., came to a stop at the entrance of the infield coming out of turn four.
On the ensuing restart, Arment was able to pull up alongside Becker as they reached the flagstand on the second lap, but was unable to make the pass. The race was slowed a third time a lap later as Lance Mathees of Winona, Minn., suffered a flat tire. Becker elected to take the inside spot behind Shaw on the restart, allowing Arment to make his move for the second spot from the outside lane behind the leader.
Arment was able to get past Becker, but couldn’t catch Shaw during the final seven laps of the race.
“My car was actually pretty good. We move around quite a bit and things kind of fell my way on the restarts,” said Arment, who has 192-career-feature wins at DSFS. “Chad wanted the bottom there and I kind of got a good start on the outside that one time and got around him.
“We kind of set up for the high side tonight and that’s kind of where it ended up,” he said. “Certainly Shaw looked good up there, too.”
Becker would finish third, followed by defending late model track champion, Brian Diede of Huron, and defending series champion Jake Redetzke of Eau Claire, Wis.
It was a good race. I worked through there and the restarts definitely didn’t help me there,” Becker said. “We had fun.”
John Kaanta of Elk Mound, Wis., who is the current leader in the series points standings, needed a victory in the B-main event to qualify for the feature race. He went on to finish ninth.
Aaron Krohn of Slayton, Minn., Becker, Cole Schill of Horace, N.D., and Mathees were the late model heat race winners.
Before the late models took the track for the final race, the WISSOTA super stock and street stock divisions put on a pair of exciting feature races.
Kip Myers of Ethan returned to Victory Lane for the first time since 2012 in the super stock main event. It was his 23rd career feature win at the speedway.
Myers, who started on the inside of the second row of the 14-car field, snagged the lead on on the sixth lap of the 20-lap feature race during an intense three-car battle for the top spot.
Kelly Duffy of Winner led the first three laps, before Casey Hanson of Badger moved to the front on the fourth lap.
Duffy moved back to the front on the fifth lap, but was replaced by Myers a lap later.
Duffy would hold on for the second spot, with Hanson finishing third. Cody Overton of Evans, Ga., was fourth, followed by Jeremy North of Huron.
Defending track champion Cole Searing of Huron had moved up to third after starting eight, however, a blown motor during the 11th lap of the race ended his night.
Myers and Duffy were the heat race winners in the super stock division.
Dustan Davis of Waubay collecte the second feature win of his career on Thursday in the street stock division. He started seventh and moved to the front with eight laps remaining.
Aiding Davis’ surge to the front of the field was a restart on lap No. 6. He claimed the second spot by shooting through the middle of a two-car battle for the top spot by defending track champion, Broc Stout of Winner, and Michael Bogh of Huron.
Davis was able to pass Stout on the following lap and brought Blayne Baloun of St. Lawrence, who was seeking his third straight feature win, with him.
Davis led the rest of the race to earn the win with Baloun taking second. Rounding out the top five in the 15-car field were Landan Davis of Waubay, Rossow and Bogh.
Baloun and Stout won the street stock heat races.
After visiting Brown County Speedway on Friday night, the WISSOTA late models will return to Dakota State Fair Speedway today for the $10,000-to-win Challenge Cup XVII presented by Prostrollo Motors. Joining the late models for today’s program, which begins at 7 p.m., will be the WISSOTA Midwest modifieds.
Tickets for tonight’s races will be available starting at noon today at the grandstands.
Summary WISSOTA Street Stock
Heat 1: 1, Blayne Baloun, St. Lawrence; 2, Landan Davis, Waubay; 3, Scott Borstad, Volga; 4, Michael Bogh, Huron; 5, Kenneth Clements, Madison’ 6, Walter Cable, Geddes; 7, Matthew Goth, Madison; (did not start) Travis Oxandaburu.
Heat 2: 1, Broc Stout, Winner; 2, Dustan Davis, Waubay; 3, Andy Rossow, Florence; 4, Tyler Lamb, Clark; 5, Cole Phillips, Winner; 6, Michael Logelin, Rapid City; (did not finish) 7, Nathan Davis, Spearfish.
Main event: 1, D. Davis; 2, Baloun; 3, L. Davis; 4, Rossow; 5, Bogh; 6, Lamb; 7, Clements; 8, Borstad; 9, Logelin; 10, Cable; 11, Oxandaburu; 12, Goth; (did not finish) 13, Stout; 14, Phillips; 15, N. Davis.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1: 1, Kip Myers, Ethan; 2, Casey Hanson, Badger; 3, Corey Elward, Mitchell; 4, Jeremy North, Huron; 5, Tyler Myers, Ethan; 6, Alan Dorris, Huron; 7, Dale Tomes, Dell Rapids.
Heat 2: 1, Kelly Duffy, Winner; 2, Cole Searing, Huron; 3, Cody Overton, Evans, GA; 4, Jamie Neumiller, Rapid City; 5, Dave Brooker, Tulare; 6, Kipp Degroot, Platte; (did not finish) 7, Billy Prouty, Alexandria.
Main event: 1, K. Myers; 2, Duffy; 3, Hanson; 4, Overton; 5, North; 6, Neumiller; 7, Elward; 8, Degroot; 9, Brooker; 10, Tomes; (did not finish) 11, T. Myers; 12, Dorris; 13, Searing; 14, Prouty.
WISSOTA Late Models
Heat 1: 1, Aaron Krohn, Slayton, Minn; 2, Jordan Heiman, Sioux Falls; 3, Rich Hanestad, Boyceville, Wis.; 4, Jake Redetzke, Eau Claire, Wis.; 5, Brian Diede, Huron; 6, John Kaanta, Elk Mound, Wis.; (did not finish) 7, John Hoefert, Sioux Falls; 8, Gary Brown Jr., Brandon; 9, Scott Borkowski, Mitchell.
Heat 2; 1, Chad Becker, Aberdeen; 2, Curt Gelling, Aberdeen; 3, Don Shaw, Ham Lake, Minn.; 4, Doug Walsh, Watertown; 5, Dustin Arthur, St. Lawrence; (did not finish) 6, Eric Mass, Rapid City; 7, Scott Ward, Watertown; (disqualified) Chad Olsen, Hendricks, Minn.
Heat 3: 1, Cole Schill, Horace, N.D.; 2, Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.; 3, Kent Arment, Aberdeen; 4, Jeffrey Massingill, Keewatin, Minn.; 5, Jeff Wildung, Nassau, Minn.; 6, Matthew Smith, Edmonton, Alberta; (did not finish) 7, Aaron Turnbull, Estevan Saskacewan; 8, Chad Mahder, Eau Claire, Wis.
Heat 4: 1, Lance Matthees, Winona, Minn.; 2, Jeff Provinzino, Hibbing, Minn.; 3, David McDonald, Huron; 4, Steve Laursen, Cumberland, Wis.; 5, Kelly Duffy, Winner; 6, Marshall Fegers, Savage, Minn.; 7, David Smith, Edmonton, Alberta; 8, Mike Stadel, Rapid City.
B-main event: 1, Kaanta; 2, Arthur; 3, Duffy; 4, Fegers; 5, Turnbull; 6, Brown Jr.; 7, D. Smith; 8, Mahder; 9, M. Smith; 10, Borkowski; 11, Hoefert; (did not finish) 12, Olsen; 13, Mass; 14, Stadel; (did not start) Ward.
Main event: 1, Shaw; 2, Arment; 3, Becker; 4, Diede; 5, Redetzke; 6, Provinzino; 7, Wildung; 8, Massingill; 9, Kaanta; 10, Brown Jr.; 11, Heiman; 12, Arthur; 13, Krohn; 14, Laursen; 15, Matthees; 16, Walsh; 17, Duffy; 18, Turnball; 19, Hanestad; 20, M. Smith; 21, Fegers; 22, Krohn; 23, Gelling; 24, Schill; 25, McDonald.
